


love me, normally

by trepidationsHangman



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Charles POV, Fluff, M/M, They are working together!!! Good!!!, They live together but arent in a relationship, Well not most of the fic, i hope ur happy!, men.... gay stickmen, no beta we die like charles, panicked love confessions: part 2!, this is for u stickmin twt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25989904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trepidationsHangman/pseuds/trepidationsHangman
Summary: You expected the realization that you’re head over heels for Henry to come hard and fast and knock you over, but it’s not that shocking, really. It’s just a small quip that pops up and your brain swallows it up, accepts it for what it is and processes it into his more basic parts. When you started loving him,whyyou started loving him, small details that your brain went through even if you were aware that you didn’t need to.You fell in love with him when you picked him up from the complex, watching him run toward the helicopter and jump in before flying off, you fell in love with him as he mumbled in the backseat and listened to you hum as you drove.--Charles and Henry live together for the sole fact they were best friends and also co-workers, but one night while winding down, a realization hits the both of them.
Relationships: Charles Calvin/Henry Stickmin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 282





	love me, normally

You’re gay for your co-worker.

It smacks you in the face as you’re sitting on the couch next to Henry, his arm over your shoulders as you stare at the TV, though you’re not listening. Your headphones are over your ears as they usually are as you stare at the TV. You don’t get overwhelmed as easily like this, so Henry allows it. 

You expected the realization that you’re head over heels for Henry to come hard and fast and knock you over, but it’s not that shocking, really. It’s just a small quip that pops up and your brain swallows it up, accepts it for what it is and processes it into his more basic parts. When you started loving him, _why_ you started loving him, small details that your brain went through even if you were aware that you didn’t need to.

You fell in love with him when you picked him up from the complex, watching him run toward the helicopter and jump in before flying off, you fell in love with him as he mumbled in the backseat and listened to you hum as you drove. 

You don’t remember all the things you love him for. It’s a long list. You adore how strong he is, laugh and appreciate his slight intelligence in plans and stupidity with other things. You adore how smooth his voice is when it comes into your ears even with small mumbles, you adore the small twitches at the corner of the mouth when you make a dumb joke and he has to try not to laugh.

The way his eyelashes stand out against the rest of his skin if you look close enough, the way he instantly cools the facade whenever he notices you panicking. He sits with you early in the morning when you can’t sleep and you do the same. You love how his skin shines under the golden light of the morning through the blinds whenever you walk into his room, and you love how happy he looks when he gets to peacefully sleep. 

You don’t have the energy to list every reason you know that you love him to yourself, but you have them all memorized. The list is growing constantly and floats around your mind even when he’s not near. He’s your favorite person and your brain _knows_ , because you get spiked up to happiness beyond the usual Charles charisma as soon as you see him, and you hit the ground hardest when he’s hurt too, whether it’s your fault or not. His pain transfers over to you and his happiness does too. Even on your worst of days, whenever he smiles about something, you smile too- even if you don’t know what he’s talking about. 

You don’t notice that you’re becoming a gushy, lovestuck mess on the outside until Henry coughs to return you to reality, and it’s _then_ that you feel the boiling hot blood under your cheeks as he speaks up. You quickly go to pull your headset off and place it around your neck so you can actually hear what he says next.

“Your face is a lil’ red there…” You can tell that he’s taking time to process what to say next, but the silence makes you want to jump out of your soft skin and run for it.  
“Are you, like, okay? Are you cold or something?” Concern leaks into his tone.

You’re not cold, not at all. Actually, you’re the exact opposite. You’re burning up inside your own skin, but just gulp and nod at his statement. May as well pass it off as being cold if it means you can avoid the topic of your, well, quite _obvious_ affection for a little longer. You dread the loss of warmth as Henry stands up off the couch to go look for something.

You two live together now, not in a married way or anything, though. The General had suggested it since you two were pretty close anyway, and you’d probably have to go on a lot of missions together, and it’d just be easier if you two were physically close too. Maybe it’d been your subconscious adult crush, maybe it’d been just pure intent, but you accepted without barely any convincing. 

You both make ‘married’ jokes kinda often though, because you two care for each other in a way that married couples might. Henry wakes you up if you’re sleeping in late, and you do the same. If Henry isn’t up in the morning, you’ll make breakfast and coffee for him, and he’ll do the same. If you seem too tired, Henry will do the dishes that night and you’ll do the chores in the morning. 

… the more you talk about it, mentally, the more it sounds like you’re a married couple. The thought nearly flusters you out of your skin and you have to push it away to prevent it from taking over. 

You’re not sure when this dissolved from a normal night to you being a love sick mess, but you’re here now! Not quite sure where the transition was, but you’re losing it and you aren’t getting out of this hyper-flustered state for at least 30 minutes. You’re not sure of 90 percent of emotions, whether they're your own or not, but you can tell by the heat under your skin that this is gonna last a while. You have to resist the urge to move, to walk around or fidget with your hands. Just having a normal bro day, no time to fidget or move, because you know if you do Henry is gonna ask why you’re fidgeting. Usually, it’s just because you’re happy, and you don’t mind rambling about that at all! But you can’t do that right now, even with the urge and energy pulsing through your muscles, you must resist. You shift lightly in your seat as you wait for Henry to get back.

Your attention is raised out of your thoughts again as you hear footsteps coming toward you, followed by a sigh from Henry that you’re far too familiar with by now. Afterall, living and working with him means you see him nearly every hour of every day, and that’s not a complaint at all. Your little lovestruck heart absolutely adores it. 

Henry comes up behind you and places the blanket over your shoulders, tilting his head a little as you turn your head to try and look back at him.  
“That any better?’

You quickly nod, having to adjust yourself to the new level of warmth banging around your body.

“Yeah, bud!” You cheerfully respond as he walks back around the couch to plop back next to you. You call him “bud” and “buddy” a lot, but you’re both the same age. Same age, but you both are pretty naive for your age. You’re in your 20s and in a painful amount of love with your partner. Dear god, you need to get a grip on yourself. Not now, though. The main point of your little bro hangouts at night is to _not_ have to keep yourself tense, to wind down after work and whatever events could have occurred that day. 

Henry is staring at the TV, which prompts you to look toward it and try and find out what you’re actually watching. Well, supposed to be watching. He seems to notice by the small snicker he lets out, but doesn’t go any further with it. You’re a little grateful for that, because your heartbeat takes another spike by his laugh. It’s so… sweet? You don’t know how to describe it besides just wholesome. 

Shit, show. You’re supposed to be figuring out what it is, but you can’t-

“It’s just a crime show, nothing too interesin’.” He nods in your direction as he fetches the remote from the table and points it at you.  
“You wanna change it or somethin’? I don’t mind.” He pushes it a little closer to you and your brain plays a quick time event to find an answer.

“Oh, uh- no! It’s all fine, you can keep it on.” You manage to stumble out, pointing at the TV to prove your point. You think it worked, because Henry hums and places the remote back on the coffee table, leaning back into the couch and _god_ you’ve never noticed how close he was before this point. He’s only a few inches away, and you know your brain shouldn’t be freaking out so much, but come on! You’re totally head over heels for him, you’re allowed to experience the stupid lovey-dovey cliches! 

You release a breath you didn’t even notice you were holding as Henry’s attention places itself toward the TV, and your’s goes to attend to the thoughts bouncing around your skull.

You love him so much, and you know it’s obvious, but you hope it’s not. Not to him. You’re only slightly terrified of him rejecting you if he found out, but moreso afraid that if he found out and didn’t return those emotions your whole “bro” thing could be torn apart. Your most valued friendship could be tense or just down the drain completely, and even though you’re 20-something, you’re absolutely petrified of him leaving or you tensing your relationship. 

You can deal with the feelings in your chest and the urges ricocheting around your mind if it means your friendship would be safe. That’s what matters right now. Not the love in your chest or worry in your mind, just you two’s friendship. That was the base of this whole thing, anyway.

God, he’s so… perfect. His imperfections only make him more beautiful and it makes your heart want to explode trying to decide what it loves about him most. In the end it only ends up with a warm feeling in your chest that you have to try and fight off, but sometimes you let it stay. You let it stay and indulge in his beauty, indulge in the warm feelings and in turn fight off the negative thoughts of rejection and fear. It’s nice, sometimes, but never around Henry. With Henry, you feel like you let your guards down, but when it comes to your feelings about _him?_ The walls shoot back up. There’s no way in hell you’d end up telling him. Absolutely no goddamn way.

“Charles?” His voice snaps you back to reality again, and you hum in confusion to give him some sort of sign that you heard him as you try to look him in the eyes. You instantly fail.

“Somethin’s been up lately, yknow, with... us. It’s been real tense, yknow that?” You feel like he’s talking down to you, but you calm yourself knowing that it’s not his intention. He’s probably just wondering. 

You hesitatingly nod. You’re certain you know what the problem is, you’re just hesitant to actually discuss it. Who knows what could slip out!? You just gotta avoid your far more than platonic affection and it’ll all be a smooth plan. You could say it’d be the greatest pla-

Henry is silent, so are you. The vibes he emits aren’t intimidating, rather just… confused? Maybe a little hesitant, too, but hell. You were never too good with reading emotions, he could be the most confident he’d ever been in his life right now and you wouldn’t know. You don’t know if he wants you to say something first, but he’s being silent and for once you just cannot stand it. 

“Yeah, uh, bud. What about it?” You chime in, staring at the wall next to Henry instead of directly at him. You’re scared but painfully in love and have no idea how you ended up here. 

“You can just, y’know, uh- tell me if somethin’s up.” This is it! This is how you either divert the situation or dig yourself way too far into it. You know which one you _wanna_ choose, but your brain commonly works on a different level than your wants. It works against itself sometimes.

“Well, y’know, I just- love you a lot buddy and-” Fuck! You did it! You dug yourself into this goddamned rabbit hole and you’ve gotta play quick action with your brain to try and drag out an excuse before it’s too late to do so, or you just gotta admit what you said and hope this doesn't go south.   
“I mean, y- l- like friends do-!” You manage to stumble out, but it’s weak and you know Henry to be a little naive, but there’s no way this could go over his head. No way at all. You’ve done this to yourself and you’ve got no one else to blame (besides Henry’s beautiful face because you _desperately_ try and convince yourself that it’s clearly that and not your brain and some odd force pushing for you to confess it right then and there.) 

You’re left sitting in silence as you wait for him to reply, but you don’t get a verbal reply. Instead you feel arms being wrapped around you and you nearly melt until the warmth. You have no idea what’s happening, but it seems sweet! You keep staring at the wall from over Henry’s shoulder as you wait for any context. Any response to what is happening right now.

“. . . love you too, y’know that?”

This is how you die! In the arms of your Covert Ops partner on a couch as he confesses to you and your heart beats out of your chest. Years of love chalked up to this, and really, if you were gonna confess, maybe you would’ve planned it a little more, but you don’t mind that right now. You’re stuck in the moment of your co-worker hugging you tight like he’d die if he’d let go, and your brain goes back over the reasons you love him.

You love Henry because he was so brave in the light of any situation. You love Henry because he faced danger head on. You love him because he’s beautiful and strong and compared to the sun, he may be an even larger star, his emotions and intentions exploding like a supernova to wipe out a universe of doubts and replace it with a new one. 

You’re painfully in love with Henry because the way his eyes light up like a quasar in the burning universe as he talks about something he enjoys in the slightest ways. You love how smooth his voice is as he talks you down and tells you stories about who he used to be. You loved Henry because he had the ability to change, and he changed for you. For the better. 

You love him, you _love_ him, no words could describe the worlds of emotions he makes you feel.

There’s just one more thing you gotta ask.

“Wait like, for real?”

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO STICKMIN TWT I HOPE UR HAPPY!!
> 
> i know the end is kinda a cliff hanger but i rlly couldnt think of anything this late :(( i might write a lil ending nad post it on my spam/fandom TWT (@trepidationsGod) to feel like i completed this but i hope u enjoy!! stickmin fandom needs more fluff so..... Yes. yea...... soft men. soft men in their 20s working for the government lets fuckin goo


End file.
